Ball spinner

ABSTRACT

A ball spinner device includes a base, at least three ball supports supported by the base for supporting a ball and allowing the ball to be spun relative to the base, and a support member for directly or indirectly supporting a ball-engaging member, the support member configured to allow positioning of the ball-engaging member on a top center of the ball for at least stabilizing the ball during spinning of the ball and also optionally for causing spinning of the ball.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/192,363 entitled BALL SPINNER filed May 24, 2021, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to a ball spinner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many people can balance a spinning ball such as on the tip of a finger or other holder such as a post or rod. People trying to learn such skill often have trouble getting the ball spinning and onto the holder, likely because it is difficult to get the ball spinning about an axis and then difficult to transfer the ball onto the holder substantially in line with the spin axis. Some attempts to provide a device that can get a ball spinning and onto a holder are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,054,217 to E. D'Amato. The inventor built some test devices (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) similar in principle to the ones described in the D'Amato patent in which a ball is supported on three wheels so as to allow the ball to be spun such as by driving rotation of one of the support wheels. The inventor found that driving one of the support wheels in order to promote spinning of the ball often resulted in the ball wobbling or failing to spin about an axis, making it difficult or impossible to achieve a properly spinning ball that can be transferred to a holder.

SUMMARY OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a ball spinner device comprises a base, at least three ball supports supported by the base for supporting a ball and allowing the ball to be spun relative to the base, and a support member for directly or indirectly supporting a ball-engaging member, the support member configured to allow positioning of the ball-engaging member on a top center of the ball for at least stabilizing the ball during spinning of the ball.

In various alternative embodiments, the device may include exactly three ball supports. The ball supports may include wheels, omnidirectional casters, ball bearings, or other types of ball supports that allow rotation/spinning of the ball relative to the base. At least a portion of the support member may be movable up and down relative to the ball to allow the ball-engaging member to be placed on the ball and taken off the ball. At least a portion of the support member may be movable or rotatable side-to-side relative to the ball to allow the ball-engaging member to be placed on the ball and taken off the ball. The support member may include a direct-drive motor for supporting and driving rotation of the ball-engaging member. The support member may include a bit and a drive shaft in which the ball-engaging member is mounted to the bottom of the drive shaft and the bit is mounted to the top of the drive shaft to be driven by an external drive device such as a power drill. The support member may include a motor that drives rotation of the ball-engaging member through a transmission system that may include a belt, a chain, gears, or other transmission mechanism. The support member may be configured to hold and support a power tool, such as a power drill, that in turn holds the ball-engaging member. The ball supports may be movable and lockable in different positions to accommodate different size balls. The device may further include feet on a bottom of the base such as for use of the device on a tabletop or other surface, a handle extending from the base such as for handheld use, and/or a clamp for securing the base to a surface.

Additional embodiments may be disclosed and claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Those skilled in the art should more fully appreciate advantages of various embodiments of the invention from the following “Description of Illustrative Embodiments,” discussed with reference to the drawings summarized immediately below.

FIG. 1 is a photograph of a first test device.

FIG. 2 is a photograph of a second test device.

FIG. 3 is a photograph of a ball spinner device, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a ball spinner device of the type shown and described with reference to FIG. 3 further including a support structure coupled to the base to directly or indirectly support the ball-engaging member on the top center of the ball, in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the jig including a direct-drive electric motor onto which the ball-engaging member is mounted, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the jig including a bit and a drive shaft in which the ball-engaging member is mounted to the bottom of the drive shaft and the bit is mounted to the top of the drive shaft to be driven, for example, by a drill.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration similar to that in FIG. 6 but in which the jig supports a motor that drives rotation of the ball-engaging member such as by a belt, chain, or gears.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a jig configured to hold and support a power tool (e.g., power drill) that in turn holds the ball-engaging member.

Other mounting and driving configurations are possible, and the present invention is not limited to any particular type of mounting or driving configuration consistent with the concepts disclosed herein.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing one way in which the entire jig may be movable up-and-down and/or rotatable side-to-side (e.g., extending through a hole in the base to allow up-and-down and/or rotatable movement of the jig relative to the base, with optional limiters to prevent excessive range of motion), accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing one way in which an upper portion of the jig may be able to move up and down, in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing one way in which an upper portion of the jig may be rotatable side-to-side, in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing one way in which the ball support members may be movable to accommodate different size balls, in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

It should be noted that the foregoing figures and the elements depicted therein are not necessarily drawn to consistent scale or to any scale. Unless the context otherwise suggests, like elements are indicated by like numerals. The drawings are primarily for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive subject matter described herein.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

As described above, the inventor built some test devices (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) similar in principle to the ones described in the D'Amato patent in which a ball is supported on three wheels so as to allow the ball to be spun such as by driving rotation of one of the support wheels. The inventor found that driving one of the support wheels in order to promote spinning of the ball often resulted in the ball wobbling or failing to spin about an axis, making it difficult or impossible to achieve a properly spinning ball that can be transferred to a holder. The inventor instead discovered that supporting and/or driving rotation of the ball from above tended to achieve a properly spinning ball

Exemplary embodiments include a ball spinner device for mechanically spinning a ball at a fairly high speed so as to allow a person to put a holder under the ball and have it balance on the holder. FIG. 3 shows a prototype of a ball spinner device, in accordance with one embodiment. Among other things, the ball spinner device has a base with a number of ball supports (in this example, three ball supports) on which the ball can be placed and spun. The ball supports may include wheels, omnidirectional casters, ball bearings, or other mechanisms that allow the ball to be spun relative to the base. Alternative embodiments can include other numbers or types of ball supports. This example also shows one way for spinning the ball from the top, e.g., using a ball-engaging member (which in this example/prototype is a portion of a tennis ball, although other types of ball-engaging members can be used including general-purpose ball engaging members such as existing polishing/buffing or grinding drill bits that could engage with the ball or special-purpose ball-engaging members designed specifically for the ball spinner, e.g., using special materials such as rubber) coupled to a drill or other spinning mechanism such as, for example, a drill press or other spinning mechanism (e.g., manual or electromechanical) of the types described below. The ball-engaging member generally interacts with the ball through friction and therefore may be referred to as a friction pad. The inventor found that having a top contact point tended to provide greater stability and the frictional force at the top tended to keep the ball aligned on the spin access. Once the ball is spinning fast enough to have gyroscopic stability, a person can lift the ball and continue spinning it manually.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a ball spinner device of the type shown and described with reference to FIG. 3 further including a support structure (referred to herein for convenience as a “jig”) coupled to the base to directly or indirectly support the ball-engaging member on the top center of the ball, in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. In a simple embodiment, the ball-engaging member may simply rest on the top of the ball to put downward pressure on the ball (e.g., for stability) so that the user can spin the ball manually or using an external ball spinner. Alternatively, the ball-engaging member may be driven, e.g., mechanically or electromechanically. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the jig including a direct-drive electric motor onto which the ball-engaging member is mounted, in accordance with one embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the jig including a bit and a drive shaft in which the ball-engaging member is mounted to the bottom of the drive shaft and the bit is mounted to the top of the drive shaft to be driven, for example, by a drill. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration similar to that in FIG. 6 but in which the jig supports a motor that drives rotation of the ball-engaging member such as by a transmission system such as a belt, chain, or gears. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a jig configured to hold and support a power tool (e.g., power drill) that in turn holds the ball-engaging member. Other mounting and driving configurations are possible, and the present invention is not limited to any particular type of mounting or driving configuration consistent with the concepts disclosed herein.

In any of such embodiments, the jig may be movable in whole or in part in an up-and-down direction and/or a side-to-side (e.g., rotational) direction so that the ball-engaging member can be placed onto the ball for spinning and taken off of the spinning ball to allow for removal of the spinning ball such as on a finger or other holder (e.g., by lifting the ball-engaging member off of the ball and/or moving the ball-engaging member aside). For example, as depicted schematically in FIG. 9, the entire jig may be movable up-and-down and/or rotatable side-to-side (e.g., extending through a hole in the base to allow up-and-down and/or rotatable movement of the jig relative to the base, with optional limiters to prevent excessive range of motion) or, as depicted schematically in FIGS. 10 and 11, just an upper portion of the jig may be able to move (e.g., including a telescoping mechanism for up and down movement as in FIG. 10 and/or including a rotating mechanism to allow the jig to be rotated side-to-side as in FIG. 11).

In any of such embodiments, the ball supports may be movable, e.g., relative to a ball center location, in order to accommodate different size balls while maintaining the ball-engaging member at the top center of the ball. For example, all of the ball support may be mechanically coupled to move inward or outward along radius, e.g., along or within ball support guide slots as depicted schematically in FIG. 12. With movable ball supports, the device generally would include a mechanism for locking the ball supports in place in a given location.

In any of such embodiments, without limitation, the device may be configured for tabletop use (in which case the bottom of the base may include feet or other feature(s) such as to hold the device in place), for handheld use (e.g., including a handle extending from the bottom of the base), or for clamping to a surface (e.g., at the edge of a table).

Generally speaking, the distance between the bottom of the ball and the base would be sufficient to allow the user to place a finger or other holder under the spinning ball for removal from the ball supports, although other configurations are possible such as, for example, providing a cut-out section in the base to provide greater access to the bottom of the spinning ball.

While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

Various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods, of which examples have been provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e., “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

Although the above discussion discloses various exemplary embodiments of the invention, it should be apparent that those skilled in the art can make various modifications that will achieve some of the advantages of the invention without departing from the true scope of the invention. Any references to the “invention” are intended to refer to exemplary embodiments of the invention and should not be construed to refer to all embodiments of the invention unless the context otherwise requires. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A ball spinner device comprising: a base; at least three ball supports supported by the base for supporting a ball and allowing the ball to be spun relative to the base; and a support member for directly or indirectly supporting a ball-engaging member, the support member configured to allow positioning of the ball-engaging member on a top center of the ball for at least stabilizing the ball during spinning of the ball.
 2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the at least three ball supports comprise exactly three ball supports.
 3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the ball supports comprise wheels.
 4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the ball supports comprise omnidirectional casters.
 5. A device according to claim 1, wherein the ball supports comprise ball bearings.
 6. A device according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the support member is movable up and down relative to the ball to allow the ball-engaging member to be placed on the ball and taken off the ball.
 7. A device according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the support member is movable or rotatable side-to-side relative to the ball to allow the ball-engaging member to be placed on the ball and taken off the ball.
 8. A device according to claim 1, wherein the support member includes a direct-drive motor for supporting and driving rotation of the ball-engaging member.
 9. A device according to claim 1, wherein the support member includes a bit and a drive shaft in which the ball-engaging member is mounted to the bottom of the drive shaft and the bit is mounted to the top of the drive shaft to be driven by an external drive device.
 10. A device according to claim 9, wherein the external drive device comprises a power drill.
 11. A device according to claim 1, wherein the support member includes a motor that drives rotation of the ball-engaging member through a transmission system.
 12. A device according to claim 11, wherein the transmission system comprises a belt.
 13. A device according to claim 11, wherein the transmission system comprises a chain.
 14. A device according to claim 11, wherein the transmission system comprises gears.
 15. A device according to claim 1, wherein the support member is configured to hold and support a power tool that in turn holds the ball-engaging member.
 16. A device according to claim 15, wherein the power tool is a power drill.
 17. A device according to claim 1, wherein the ball supports are movable and lockable in different positions to accommodate different size balls.
 18. A device according to claim 1, further comprising feet on a bottom of the base.
 19. A device according to claim 1, further comprising a handle extending from the base.
 20. A device according to claim 1, further comprising a clamp for securing the base to a surface. 